


The Best Kind Of Afternoon (Lazy Of Course)

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Just Pointless Family Fluff, Slice of Life, no plot to be found here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 04:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12951549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: If only young Shikamaru had known how sappy and content he would grow up to be.





	The Best Kind Of Afternoon (Lazy Of Course)

“You are incredibly troublesome and it’s indescribably unfair how cute you are.” Shikamaru blinked slowly, his mouth turned down in a half-hearted scowl. “You get that from your mother, of course. Both of those things.”

Babbling and very seriously attempting to fit one entire foot in his mouth, Shikaten didn’t respond to his father’s words in the slightest. Not that he could have even if he were paying attention. At only six months old he hadn’t quite learned to speak yet, although he did show signs of possibly saying his first word early as was typical of children from the Nara line. It helped as well that his mom was pretty smart herself.

Despite his baby’s genius and the overwhelming adorability of his pudgy little face, Shikamaru just wasn’t in the mood for changing diapers at the moment. Seeing as there wasn’t anyone else here to take the task from him, however, he heaved a deep sigh and headed for the changing table. Tomorrow, he vowed, he would do his utmost to convince one of his aunts that they wanted to babysit for a few hours. Just around noon when little Shikaten took what was usually his biggest poop of the day.

Mercifully, today’s wasn’t too bad and soon enough they were both all cleaned up and heading back to the couch where Shikamaru had left his book. Reading wasn’t really his favorite pastime, but then, he hadn’t actually been reading. In truth he’d been using it to drape over his face and keep the light out as he napped with baby Shikaten stretched peacefully atop his chest. Now that the little one had woken up though there would likely be no getting back to sleep for either of them. Once Shikaten was up he was usually up for good.

Plopping the both of them down on the couch, Shikamaru retrieved his book and very gently bopped his son on the top of the head with it.

“What a bother,” he grumbled. “I was hoping we could nap all afternoon until your mommy got home.”

Shikaten gurgled and waved an arm in his direction, trying to reach for the book.

“No you can’t have this, you’ll drool all over it.”

His arm waved more insistently, paired with a very serious string of babbling baby talk. Shikamaru grinned.

“Oh? You don’t say? And then what happened?”

Shikaten gave him a terribly unimpressed look and fluttered both feet. Losing interest in the book which was apparently unavailable to entertain him, he reached instead for a handful of his father’s shirt, stuffing it in his mouth and sucking enthusiastically on the rough cotton. With a shake of his head, Shikamaru just let him do as he pleased.

“That’s gross,” he informed the boy in his lap. “Hope it tastes better than it looks like it does.”

All he received as an answer was the wet sound of a baby gumming on his clothing. He hadn’t lied, it was indeed kind of gross, but it was also stupidly cute and he couldn’t seem to make himself look away. This happened to him all the time, unfortunately. Shikaten would be doing the strangest things and Shikamaru would find himself staring openly, sappy thoughts filling his mind as he wondered how in the world he had gotten so lucky.

When he was smaller Shikamaru had watched his parents and wondered if that was going to be his life when he grew up. Young and naïve, he had taken so many things at face value and never looked past the bickering over breakfast, the nagging to come home earlier. Now that he had a family himself he could understand what his parents had been saying between the lines. He and his wife bickered over breakfast all the time, teasing each other about perceived flaws as a roundabout way to give the other a compliment. When his partner ‘nagged’ him to come home early he knew it was because she wanted their family to spend time together or perhaps she might have some kind of surprise set up for him.

Though, admittedly, it wasn’t often that he needed to be asked to hurry home. Everyone in the village knew that he was a lazy man and there was no place he would rather laze around than at home with his precious son. No matter how gross it was when Shikaten started sucking on various bits of his clothing.

He looked up when he heard the sound of the front door opening and a tired voice called out to them both. Even Shikaten turned his head, dropping the shirt in his mouth to let loose a stream of excited squeals. Quiet laughter responded before a drooping figure came around the corner and headed towards them with heavy, dragging footsteps.

“Wow,” Shikamaru said. “Looks like they ran you ragged today.”

“Why did you let me agree to this?” Sakura asked him, flopping down next to them on the couch and reaching over to pinch their son’s cheeks. The little one gurgled and squirmed about until he was allowed to crawl over on to his mother’s lap.

“If I recall correctly, the idea was yours in the first place.”

“A stupid idea,” she snorted. “You’re supposed to be a genius; why didn’t you tell me I was being dumb?”

Shikamaru laughed. “There are some mistakes that people need to figure out for themselves.”

His wife made a rude noise and turned her attention to the baby. “Mommy missed you while she was training her genin team. Yes she did. Yes she did! And she’s going to dig a nice big hole where we can all hide in so they can’t find her for tomorrow’s training. Yes she is!”

With a shaking head Shikamaru leaned over to buss the both of them on the cheeks. Then he stood from the couch and meandered his way in to the kitchen, steps lazy and hands in his pockets.

“It’s troublesome but I suppose I can get dinner started. You look like if you tried to cook you’d fall asleep over top of the stove and boil your own head.” He paused to think for a moment. “Actually, that doesn’t sound too different than usual.”

“Oh go stuff your head!” The offended shriek that left Sakura’s throat was oddly strangled as she tried to yell at him without being too loud for the baby sitting on her knees. Hurrying in to the kitchen, her husband wisely smothered his laughter as he set about pulling ingredients out of the fridge.

Moments like these he truly wished he could step back in time and speak to his younger self, to head off those early years when he had crushed hard on Temari and the even earlier years when he’d thought he would grow up to marry Ino. He wanted to step in and slap the eye roll right off his own face every time he sighed at any signs of affection between his parents. If he had only known back then how happy he would grow up to be, the utter contentment that would fill his every day, his attitude would have been wildly different.

Yet that was impossible, he knew. A lazy cloud watcher he might be but Shikamaru had never been the type to lose himself in pointless daydreams. So instead of wondering about a past that he couldn’t change, instead he chose to cock an ear and shamelessly eavesdrop as Sakura regaled their baby with an extremely exaggerated and censored version of how her day had gone, punctuated by many tickle breaks.

His family might be troublesome but they made him happy and there was nowhere else on earth he would rather be than here at home with them.


End file.
